From the day I put up our Super Mario Trunk or Treat post, I started getting questions about the Piranha Plant DIY and where the heck the graphics were to make the Question Mark Box. Going to be totally honest here, on the difficulty scale, this plant project is about a 6 or a 7, but you can do it!
Mario Brothers Piranha Plant DIY
As I mentioned, this project is a little tough, but it’s mostly because the materials are so big and hard to manage. It’s do-able, but you’ll likely need a second person to help out a bit.
Materials:
- Large sheet black foam core
- 18×18 in carboard box
- Small hula hoop
- Piranha plant file (download here)
- Pipe insulation
- Green craft paper (buy it here)
- 4 foot rod
- PVC pipe in cement
- Packing tape
You’ll need to bring the Piranha plant poster to a print center that has a wide format color printer. Grab a coupon before you go! After you print it out, you’ll need to mount the picture to a piece of black foam core and cut it out with a hot knife. I’ve got a tutorial on how to do that here. Different project, same idea! Watch the video.
After you’ve got your plant cut out, tape your rod to the back. I have a 5 gallon bucket I’ve anchored a 1.5 inch piece of PVC pipe into that I use for ALL kinds of projects (Boat sails, projector screens, balloon arches, etc. etc.) The bucket goes in the green sewer pipe we’re about to make and the the rod goes in the PVC pipe. The bucket will keep your plant from blowing away and keep the graphics upright.
A hula hoop?? What the heck?? Really, it makes great bones for a pipe.
Make the pipe: You’re going to slit your 18x18x18in box open so that all four sides lay flat on the ground. One good vertical cut will do it! Cut the flaps off the top, but save them because they’ll make the lip of the pipe.
We “pre-rolled” the cardboard before we tried to shape it around the hula hoop, which made it easier to work with and easier to convince to be round. With a little bit of help from a friend, wrap the cardboard around the hula hoop and tape the hula hoop to the cardboard with good packing tape.
Use your green craft paper to cover the cardboard.
Make the lip of the pipe: Tape your leftover flaps from your box into one long piece. Cover this uber long cardboard rectangle in paper.
To get a bit of a bump out on the lip, we put a piece of piping insulation (buy at Lowe’s, etc.) at the top of our big green tube and hot glued it down. That part will take some patience. 
After the insulation is good and stuck, glue the rectangle to the insulation. You might need a hand to get this part done!
From there, put the cement bucket with PVC pipe in the green “pipe” and put the Piranha plant graphic on a stick into the PVC. And you’re done!
How to make a mario brothers question mark box
This is pretty basic! The print out is sized for a 13×19 paper. Yellow craft paper is the quickest and cleanest way to get the solid yellow look–paint isn’t going to work so great here.
Materials:
- 18x18x18in cardboard box
- Yellow craft paper (buy it here)
- 13×19 white paper
- Question mark graphics (download here)
Print out and cut out the question mark four times. (Or three, no one will see the back of the box when it’s facing the car.) Wrap your cardboard box in yellow craft paper. Use a glue stick to paste the question mark and four rivets to each side of the box. And you’re done!
But wait! There’s more! You can see more ideas to make your own Mario party here:
Josh Turner
Sunday 24th of October 2021
You mentioned you use the buckets for a projector screen, what do you do for that set up? P.S. thanks for the great post
Dana
Monday 25th of March 2019
Hi there!
I have twin nephew boys turning 4 in May and are obsessed with Mario! I'm planning on making a few of these for their party! I can only find 16x16 and 20x20 boxes. Would you change the size of the question mark and dots to be more proportional? I've never done anything like this! Also, would you wrap it all like a gift?
Thank you for this!
Paula Biggs
Thursday 28th of March 2019
Easy trick, Dana, to help you out! When you print, you can ask the printer to print to scale. Simply change the print size to 75% or 50% or whatever you need to in order to match the size of your box. Hope that helps!
Dana
Monday 25th of March 2019
Hi there!
I have twin nephew boys turning 4 in May and are obsessed with Mario! I'm planning on making a few of these for their party!
I can only find 16x16 and 20x20 boxes. Would you change the size of the question mark and dots to be more proportional? I've never done anything like this! Thank you for this!
Natasha Corizzi
Tuesday 23rd of October 2018
Hi, I was wondering what size poster you printed the piranha plant on?
thanks, Natasha
Paula Biggs
Thursday 25th of October 2018
I usually get my things printed at Office Depot on their 24 inch wide printer. Since the paper comes on a roll there, they don't always stop me at 36 inches long, which is standard poster size. I do believe the piranha plants are a tad bigger than 36 inches.
Mario Brothers Trunk or Treat Ideas - Frog Prince Paperie
Wednesday 26th of September 2018
[…] The question mark boxes pop up coins in the game, so I thought they’d make great tables for treats. I started with a 20x20x20 cardboard box (mine was from Office Depot) and yellow craft paper (buy it here.) I printed out the question marks and dots and used a glue stick to put each of the dots on the box–just 4 of the sides, though! You can see the Mario question mark box tutorial and download the printable here. […]